On a recent trip to Belfast, I was lucky enough to visit the Root and Branch coffee in Belfast which is located in an old linen mill. They neighbour a microbrewery and a couple of other independent businesses that all come together to make a really cool collective that is definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Northern Ireland.

With many similarities to Manchester, finding a roastery that is set in an old Mill made me feel like I was at home. But another common love between the two cities is our passion for beer which makes their unique packaging rather fitting. Apart from the fact that it does just jump out at you and looks pretty sexy it also is quite practical and is 100% recyclable.

The Bale Mountain coffee was recommended as one I needed to try if I wanted to try something a little different and I’m always drawn to Ethiopians anyway.

To start the coffee has a wonderful sweet fragrance that is somewhat ironically hoppy. It has an inviting dark fruit smell that makes you just want to grind it and brew and stop just smelling it.

The coffee has a bright and well-balanced body, the fragrances of the unground coffee carry through into the cup and evolve into more subtle fruity notes. The cherry for me was quite prevalent which is one of my favourite flavours. It interesting developed into a slightly lighter mouthfeel once cooled and carried a slight citrus taste.

Bale Mountain by Root and Branch was a superb coffee, the unique and bold packaging transcended into their coffee which did not disappoint. It may be a little much for the speciality coffee newbie, but I’m sure one of their array of single origins is a little safer.

I always try to brew each coffee with as many different methods as possible so I used my full arsenal of coffee paraphernalia on Root and Branch. Although it didn’t underperform in any method, the best for me had to be V60, clean, crisp and juicy!